Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Back from AACE eLearn2008 Las Vegas Conference
This was a real good experience and a good starting point for CURITE. I now can see where CURITE can grow and how to connect with other fellow researchers that are travelling the same road.
There so much that can be done and I'm a true believer that CURITE can grow and stretch out to mold and adapt to so many possibilities, it's just a matter of time.
I learnt a lot of do's and don'ts with presentations at this conference and would first like to share a bit about it.
Before I look like a show off, my first comment will address what I believe wasn't the best in my own presentation: I have come to really understand that adding a few more lines in the title does make a difference. Curricula in Technology - CURITE, was a hard sell for a title, it was too short and didn't quite explain what it was about. At first I didn't understand those so very long titles, and my marketing judgment interfered and had me set what I thought was a clean, short simple title... Not a good a idea! The more is said that leads to the content, the better. So next time I'll make sure to improve on that. It will probably attract a larger audience and a more participative one too.
Now, on the other hand my presentation, was what I believe to be good to outstanding. Here we were at an eLearning and technology oriented conference and most of the presentations not only were lame, but many didn't bother to follow even outdated guidelines like the rule of 7, or just simple common sense in preparing them. You had light blue backgrounds with white letters, letters too small to read and downright real busy backgrounds!! Some were just a bunch of text, nothing visual and absolutely non-attractive. I really think that if you are to make a presentation you have to take care of these details. And if the presentation is to be at a conference where the infusion of technology into learning is the issue, well I'd say that making an effort to make the best use of it should be a priority.
There so much that can be done and I'm a true believer that CURITE can grow and stretch out to mold and adapt to so many possibilities, it's just a matter of time.
I learnt a lot of do's and don'ts with presentations at this conference and would first like to share a bit about it.
Before I look like a show off, my first comment will address what I believe wasn't the best in my own presentation: I have come to really understand that adding a few more lines in the title does make a difference. Curricula in Technology - CURITE, was a hard sell for a title, it was too short and didn't quite explain what it was about. At first I didn't understand those so very long titles, and my marketing judgment interfered and had me set what I thought was a clean, short simple title... Not a good a idea! The more is said that leads to the content, the better. So next time I'll make sure to improve on that. It will probably attract a larger audience and a more participative one too.
Now, on the other hand my presentation, was what I believe to be good to outstanding. Here we were at an eLearning and technology oriented conference and most of the presentations not only were lame, but many didn't bother to follow even outdated guidelines like the rule of 7, or just simple common sense in preparing them. You had light blue backgrounds with white letters, letters too small to read and downright real busy backgrounds!! Some were just a bunch of text, nothing visual and absolutely non-attractive. I really think that if you are to make a presentation you have to take care of these details. And if the presentation is to be at a conference where the infusion of technology into learning is the issue, well I'd say that making an effort to make the best use of it should be a priority.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
acting upon the theory and the context of mobile learning
I posted this earlier today at http://ken-carroll.com/ on the issues acting upon the theory and the context of mobile learning.
As an ESL teacher for many years, I’ve discovered that the practical issue is the one that stands. The possibilities are endless, but if they make no practical sense they go to waste. So, after all questions have been answered, the fact that remains is that it will be of use only if it need be applied. Here 2 options come about: you facilitate the learning experience through the choices the learner may have or know, or you guide application towards previously proven mobile channels for facilitation (which the learner may or not be familiar or aware of). Both take a lot of planning, guidance and flexible leadership in order to get the best results. However, it best not- be done lone ranger style; as a learning facilitator, opening yourself to collaborative teaching, will guide you and your students to new and very practical learning experiences. So to teach, as best as one can, one must a student always be. The gaining of insight into mobile learning is to be brought about by learners’ practical applications and by working collaboratively at all levels towards a common goal, which makes the most of the resources at hand, opening new awareness, and making it a learning experience for everyone involved. I've found that the richest learning experiences happen this way and, that where mobile learning is concerned, the answers come about in such practical ways, you often forget what it was that sparked the idea. Usually the answer rides upon the collaborative fuel of trying to get the most out the available resources.
Having said this, I have found myself already at the crossroads that Ken Carrol points out. I can see what’s ailing education and still can’t find the means to save my child from it. I agree that it looks like it can take years for the changes to happen, but feel the solutions could be simpler that they seem to us. I sincerely believe that if we can manage to understand that it’s not only through improved individual teaching practice that change will be achieved, but in the overall collective awareness that schools are learning and breathing organizations, alive and well as long as teachers and administrators work collectively towards common goals that have them learning and achieving change, it is that we will have gained a major step towards taking education into the 21st century. Too many times I have found schools dying and totally out of oxygen because things are done as they have always been done, teachers are left to their own means, and there’s no sense of being a team, so much that it seems almost a miracle they acknowledge being part of the same school. How can there be any successful learning in these institutions if while we live in a globalized world, these institutions can’t even connect within themselves?
As an ESL teacher for many years, I’ve discovered that the practical issue is the one that stands. The possibilities are endless, but if they make no practical sense they go to waste. So, after all questions have been answered, the fact that remains is that it will be of use only if it need be applied. Here 2 options come about: you facilitate the learning experience through the choices the learner may have or know, or you guide application towards previously proven mobile channels for facilitation (which the learner may or not be familiar or aware of). Both take a lot of planning, guidance and flexible leadership in order to get the best results. However, it best not- be done lone ranger style; as a learning facilitator, opening yourself to collaborative teaching, will guide you and your students to new and very practical learning experiences. So to teach, as best as one can, one must a student always be. The gaining of insight into mobile learning is to be brought about by learners’ practical applications and by working collaboratively at all levels towards a common goal, which makes the most of the resources at hand, opening new awareness, and making it a learning experience for everyone involved. I've found that the richest learning experiences happen this way and, that where mobile learning is concerned, the answers come about in such practical ways, you often forget what it was that sparked the idea. Usually the answer rides upon the collaborative fuel of trying to get the most out the available resources.
Having said this, I have found myself already at the crossroads that Ken Carrol points out. I can see what’s ailing education and still can’t find the means to save my child from it. I agree that it looks like it can take years for the changes to happen, but feel the solutions could be simpler that they seem to us. I sincerely believe that if we can manage to understand that it’s not only through improved individual teaching practice that change will be achieved, but in the overall collective awareness that schools are learning and breathing organizations, alive and well as long as teachers and administrators work collectively towards common goals that have them learning and achieving change, it is that we will have gained a major step towards taking education into the 21st century. Too many times I have found schools dying and totally out of oxygen because things are done as they have always been done, teachers are left to their own means, and there’s no sense of being a team, so much that it seems almost a miracle they acknowledge being part of the same school. How can there be any successful learning in these institutions if while we live in a globalized world, these institutions can’t even connect within themselves?
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Test sharing issues
On Aug 11th, Mon, eSchool news posted this news article: "Postyourtest.com raises ethical concerns California-based web site called ‘worrisome’ by some By Dennis Carter, Assistant Editor, eSchool News" which you may read at http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/news-by-subject/research/index.cfm?i=54822&page=1.
In reply to the concerns there placed, I responded with:
As a teacher, it is easy to see why teachers would prefer the use of multiple choice or closed ended question tests. Essay type or open ended questions exam correction is slower and can lead to subjective evaluations that are debatable, whereas closed questions are objective, quicker to correct and hardly debatable (unless you are really bad at creating this type of questions). Which takes me to the next comment on this issue: while essay type question tests are very easy and quick to make, the closed question and multiple choice ones are not easy at all, they require lots of planning and execution to develop and mostly get refined to excellence by use; which would explain why teachers get attached to their creations for a long time.
The other side, as a student, I have a great dislike for multiple choice tests; mostly because their creators don’t really know how to develop them and greatly because the concept is devious. Let’s see, the principle is that there should be 1 correct answer(although not too outwardly right to be singled out immediately) , one that is absolutely wrong but would sound right to someone who knows nothing about the subject and then 2 or 3 more created as “distracters”. Yes, that’s it! These distracters are created with the sole purpose to measure the height of your in-between-knowledge in case you don’t spot the right one, by giving you wrong answers that look right because of carefully placed clauses or modifiers. This amounts to using trickery to see if you fall into a trap, and in student survival I can see why trying to study from a certain teacher’s tests would make sense.
Having stated the above, Sartris position, "The site seems more focused on enabling users to get to the test that they might have to face with a given instructor than it is on providing learning guidelines about the things that are important enough in the course to appear on a test.", although learning guidelines about the things that are important enough in the course to appear on a test is clearly the middle point we would all hope for, it fails to recognize that each teacher has a different style, these are not standardized tests we are talking about; therefore, although it’s great to have different styles of the same type of question for one subject, effectiveness by working on the precise style of your teacher will teach you how to identify which questions are relevant to him (her)and how right answers can be identified, learning by doing, hands on. Isn’t that the real way to learn?
Teachers have to wake up to the fact that this is a Globalized World, no kidding! And that they have to keep up refreshing their courses, contents, procedures and tests to the demands of this new world. Having their tests out there for others to use and study can turn into an enriching collaborative opportunity where they can improve on their testing style and contribute to others, while helping their students develop the skills necessary to function, clear obstacles and solve problems in the 21st century, with 21st century tools available to them.
Someone must have been tickled the wrong way by comments to this article; for since my posting, shortly thereafter all comments posted to the news have just disappeared.
In reply to the concerns there placed, I responded with:
As a teacher, it is easy to see why teachers would prefer the use of multiple choice or closed ended question tests. Essay type or open ended questions exam correction is slower and can lead to subjective evaluations that are debatable, whereas closed questions are objective, quicker to correct and hardly debatable (unless you are really bad at creating this type of questions). Which takes me to the next comment on this issue: while essay type question tests are very easy and quick to make, the closed question and multiple choice ones are not easy at all, they require lots of planning and execution to develop and mostly get refined to excellence by use; which would explain why teachers get attached to their creations for a long time.
The other side, as a student, I have a great dislike for multiple choice tests; mostly because their creators don’t really know how to develop them and greatly because the concept is devious. Let’s see, the principle is that there should be 1 correct answer(although not too outwardly right to be singled out immediately) , one that is absolutely wrong but would sound right to someone who knows nothing about the subject and then 2 or 3 more created as “distracters”. Yes, that’s it! These distracters are created with the sole purpose to measure the height of your in-between-knowledge in case you don’t spot the right one, by giving you wrong answers that look right because of carefully placed clauses or modifiers. This amounts to using trickery to see if you fall into a trap, and in student survival I can see why trying to study from a certain teacher’s tests would make sense.
Having stated the above, Sartris position, "The site seems more focused on enabling users to get to the test that they might have to face with a given instructor than it is on providing learning guidelines about the things that are important enough in the course to appear on a test.", although learning guidelines about the things that are important enough in the course to appear on a test is clearly the middle point we would all hope for, it fails to recognize that each teacher has a different style, these are not standardized tests we are talking about; therefore, although it’s great to have different styles of the same type of question for one subject, effectiveness by working on the precise style of your teacher will teach you how to identify which questions are relevant to him (her)and how right answers can be identified, learning by doing, hands on. Isn’t that the real way to learn?
Teachers have to wake up to the fact that this is a Globalized World, no kidding! And that they have to keep up refreshing their courses, contents, procedures and tests to the demands of this new world. Having their tests out there for others to use and study can turn into an enriching collaborative opportunity where they can improve on their testing style and contribute to others, while helping their students develop the skills necessary to function, clear obstacles and solve problems in the 21st century, with 21st century tools available to them.
Someone must have been tickled the wrong way by comments to this article; for since my posting, shortly thereafter all comments posted to the news have just disappeared.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Conference Update
Curite will be formally presented to fellow teachers and other eduaction researchers at e-Learn 2008 Conference in Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday November 18 @ 3 p.m.
All comments by invited bloggers will be appreciated at this time so that by then all quirks and questions related to it may have been taken care of and discussed at length.
Thanks in advance
All comments by invited bloggers will be appreciated at this time so that by then all quirks and questions related to it may have been taken care of and discussed at length.
Thanks in advance
Thursday, July 31, 2008
CURITE UPDATE
CURITE has been accepted for presentation at e-Learn 2008 conference to be held in Las Vegas from November 17 to 21. It is an annual conference presented by the Association for Advancement in Computer Education-AACE. The paper will then be published in their International Journal on E-learning.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
From e-School News Monday July 14, 2008. Gas prices fuel rise in virtual field trips
As schools grapple with budget cuts and rising fuel costs, many districts are finding it necessary to reduce or eliminate field trips, leaving students and teachers with a surprisingly attractive option--virtual field trips.
There you go! Now maybe digital technology will get the attention and do what it does best... be the best tool that learning has ever met!
Cheers!!
G
As schools grapple with budget cuts and rising fuel costs, many districts are finding it necessary to reduce or eliminate field trips, leaving students and teachers with a surprisingly attractive option--virtual field trips.
There you go! Now maybe digital technology will get the attention and do what it does best... be the best tool that learning has ever met!
Cheers!!
G
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